Chapter 12

Services

An Introduction to Human GeographyThe Cultural Landscape, 9e

James M. Rubenstein

Geog 1050Victoria Alapo, Instructor

Service Sector Employment

Over half of workers are employed in the service sector in most MDCs, while a much smaller percentage are in the service sector in most LDCs.

Employment Change in U.S.

Growth in employment in the U.S. since 1970 has been entirely in the tertiary sector.

Origins of Services

• Origin of services

– Began with clustered settlements. E.g. religious, education, government, police protection, transportation and retail

Rural Settlement Patterns

Circular settlement patterns are common in Germany. Linear “long lot” patterns are often found along rivers in France, and were transferred to Québec.

Distribution of Consumer Services

• Central Place Theory (Walter Christaller)– A Central Place is a market center for the exchange of

goods and services. It is centrally located to maximize accessibility from the surrounding region. Reminds one of “functional/nodal regions” but without the overlap (pg 22, fig1-11). See next slides.

– Market area / hinterland: area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted.

– Size of market area: determined by Range & Threshold (see next slides).

Market Areas as Hexagons

Fig. 12-5: Hexagons are often used to delineate market areas because they are a compromise between circles and squares. Circles have edges equidistant from the center but leave gaps, and squares don’t leave gaps but the edges are not equidistant from the center.

Distribution of Consumer Services

– Range is the maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service e.g. how far are you willing to travel for pizza? What about a doctor’s appointment (i.e. specialist)? Or for tourism? Here, a pizza shop has a small range, whereas a specialist doctor’s office has a large range.

– Threshold is the minimum # of people needed to support the service. Otherwise, the business won’t survive, even if the “five” people available are “willing” to travel to it. E.g. the median threshold for a Kroger (Bakers) supermarket in Dayton, Ohio, is 30,000 people. Sometimes, incomes are considered also. Read pg 407. This may even include the ages or marital status of a population.

– That is why business people rely on census figures. This is what is used by businesses in Market Analysis.

Central Place Theory

Fig. 12-7: Market areas are arranged into a regular pattern according to central place theory, with larger settlements fewer and further apart. Also, services like universities will have a larger range than a primary or secondary school.

Supermarket and Convenience Store Market Areas

Fig. 12-8: Market area, range, and threshold for Kroger supermarkets (left) and UDF convenience stores in Dayton, Ohio. Supermarkets have much larger areas and ranges than convenience stores. Also, Pg 408.

Business Services and Settlements

• World cities – They provide producer, public, retail and personal services with large market areas.– Ancient world cities e.g. in Ur in Mesopotamia (Iraq),

and cities in ancient Egypt. See next slide.

– Medieval world cities e.g. Timbuktu (Mali), Paris, etc

– Modern world cities e.g. New York, London, Tokyo, etc. See next slides. Size of city is not always the major determinant. There are many cities larger than New York and London.

Ancient Ur

Fig. 12-10: Ur, in modern-day Iraq, was one of the earliest urban settlements. The ziggurat, or stepped temple, was surrounded by a dense network of residences. Read caption, pg 413.

Hierarchy of World Cities

Fig. 12-14: London, New York, and Tokyo are the dominant world cities in the global economy. Other major and secondary world cities play lesser roles.

Business-Service Cities in the U.S.

Fig. 12-15: Below the world cities in the hierarchy of U.S. cities are command and control centers, specialized producer-service centers, and dependent centers.

Clustering of Services

• Central business district (CBD)– Already covered under Cities (Ch. 13)– St Paul’s, in Central London pg 425

• Suburbanization of businesses– Suburbanization of retailing. See picture

and Fig 12-19 on pg 426. This includes many Wal-Marts, or our Village Pointe, etc.

– Suburbanization of factories and offices also occurring.